Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is perhaps the greatest humanitarian disaster on the face of the globe right now. For years this tragedy has played out away from the headlines while a genocidal war went on, killing 4 million people.

After 15 years of instability DRC is at last taking tentative steps towards peace. It is the first real chance many aid agencies have had to get in and help.

Some of the world's richest nations are falling over themselves to get there. Not to offer unflinching and dedicated support, but to take as much as they possibly can, while they can.

Greenpeace's latest report, Carving up the Congo, reveals just how devastating the pillage is. Over 15 million hectares of the country's rainforest has been granted to the logging industry in wealthy countries, some for the meager price of sugar, salt and some tools.

This should disturb all of us.

DRC is located centrally in Africa and is a large green mass in the middle of a mostly arid continent. This mass is 10 per cent of the world's natural forest, covering 172 million hectares. It represents the second largest rainforest block in the world - second only to the Amazonian jungle.

For the massive logging spree that has been granted to the rich it will be the poor who pay the highest price. And in DRC that is almost everyone. These are families who have managed to survive three decades of bloodshed and eke out a living as subsistent farmers. They are people who depend on the forest for survival.

With the rainforest sell-off these people will undoubtedly be pushed to the brink once again, and any glimmer of hope for the millions of displaced Congolese will be extinguished.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report warns of increased civil wars over diminishing resources. The risk of this is surely greatest in countries like DRC where peace is still paper-thin. So while rich developed nations spend billions preparing themselves against global warming poor nations will again be forgotten.

The loss of rainforest is not only a loss for DRC; it is a loss to the world and a blow to our efforts to curb climate change. If climate change has taught us anything it is that because we share the same globe, we share the same problems. The fate of the poor is our own fate. The two are interlocked.

With relative stability returning to DRC, I am re-opening three World Vision programs. Programs that will reach some of the most traumatised people in the country and begin the hopeful steps towards building essential homes, health and education services.

World Vision is also preparing new programs to tackle climate change while helping communities to restore their environment. Programs envisaged include community based forest management, restoration of cleared land through natural tree regeneration, tree planting and organic agriculture.

We can do so much more though. World Vision is just one agency among many working on sustainable solutions in developing countries.

But there is a long road ahead for DRC. And for agencies like World Vision to get the public to take notice.

It will take a lot of public education and awareness building work to help DRC given its size and obscurity. World Vision wants to be in a position to speak to Australians about the awful suffering of this nation, why it deserves our support and what we can do to help.

It will need international and Australian support. As DRC takes its first tentative steps towards democracy there is a role for all of us. Rich nations must heed the lessons of past greedy actions and dig in to help rebuild the nation instead of grabbing valuable resources. The public must learn about what these people have been through, and accept that it will take time, care and a great deal of financial support to get them on their feet again.

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